They say that good things often come in threes...

and this week has brought a new house, a new cat and a new dog… however, it isn’t all good: the lively puppy has fleas and the cat is heavily pregnant & hungry for smelly small fish, and our toddler is yet to learn (and distinguish) appropriate actions to cats and dogs. I now know appreciate the saying ‘fighting like cats and dogs’ after watching the vicious interaction between our new pets.

The last few weeks have felt like a whirlwind, my parents very kindly gifted me with a plane ticket to the UK to briefly visit my beautiful newborn nephew, Isaac. It was a great time to go as the said new house needed lots of renovation prior to moving in, so it was good to be away whilst the house was uninhabitable! It was also very convenient because we had just finished the 6 month YWAM course. On a less practical note, Amelie briefly experienced some of the best parts of a British Christmas- beautiful lights, tasty food, chocolate coins, dark and cosy at 4pm, Christmas music, pretty trees, and most importantly, she renewed her closeness and memories with family. Our trip entailed jumping on and off East Coast trains from Reading to Sheffield to Glasgow and seeing various family members, who were thrilled to see their first grandchild/niece (and maybe mildly pleased to see me too)..

Granny's birthday

beautiful new mama

music with Uncle Mat

First Haircut with Oma

Christmas in the UK is a very different occasion to in Uganda, we look forward to seeing what Tuesday brings here in Arua!

Surreal Christmas in Africa

giraffe painting

The day we left for the UK, we watched David run a half marathon to raise money for his late aunt’s hospital ward. A marathon in Africa is a fascinating cultural experience and the elite athletes were incredible… The route was very hilly, so that was David's excuse for doing the race in the same time as his 62 year-old mother runs the half, in 2 hours...

elite runner...

After the run, David went off to Kisumu, west Kenya, to try and track down a trunk of useful resources that we had left in our old house. He didn’t have much success with the trunk, but he enjoyed a whirlwind of catching up with old friends and seeing the REAP (Rural Extension with Africa’s Poor) demonstration farm that he used to help work on two years ago.

Then David was reunited in Entebbe (Uganda’s International Airport) with an extra suitcase of goodies from the UK and his pasty (and more porky) girls. You don’t always imagine airport towns to make great holiday destinations (think Luton, Heathrow, Glasgow Prestwick) but we were pleasantly surprised with our wee break.

soaking up the sun

wild monkeys

We learnt a few things about holidaying in Africa:

1) Botanical Gardens can have cobras… (wild)2) Despite being places to preserve nature, Botanical Gardens will kill creatures (very glad though, seeming as the cobra was near us)3) Camels are fierce creatures and love to bite toddlers sitting on their parents’ shoulders4) White man on his own equals a target for prostitutes to hit on (BigHair was only a 100 metres away from me and Amelie, but that is considered far enough I guess)

grumpy camel

As our break came to an end, we were delighted to hear that a couple could give us (and our stuff) a lift back up to Arua- saving us lugging all our stuff on the 8 hour hot bus journey…

Crazy Car Thief...

But the 5th thing we learnt about holidaying in Africa is that plans change quickly and we shouldn't get our hopes up…Their car was broken into and completely wrecked the night before we were due to leave, the cases were chucked out and they obviously started going through the UK goodies case… crazily the thief took curtain wire, but bypassed the lindt truffles and lees tablet… very annoying for our new curtain-less house, but great news for our night time snacks!